I'm here..but I'm not...

I have to close the library today so I came in early for my morning workout. Now I'm hiding in the conference room. It's kind of nice have 2 hours to just take my time and mozy into my day.

This new year has started off with my taking on another LT7 class so now I have 2 classes to teach instead of just one. I am not sure how many school librarians teach a year long class anymore but we do it here at the private school I work at. I think, more school should have their librarians really teach a class. Our course is a year long but even if kids get a class for a semester to help them learn research and technology skills they will be better for it. We teach those life long practical learning skills that most administrators and teachers think kids already have but they done. Or these are the skills that departments are supposed to teach but don't have time to teach because of all the requirements and standards and other things they need to teach kids.

I love this class. I love teaching it. I love that I have to revisit things and that I am always learning. I learn from my own research, I learn from the kids, I learn from my colleagues. It's amazing.

I did meet my new students for the first time 2 days ago and they are really great. I normally teach 6th period (after lunch) and 8th period (near the end of the school day) so the kids are either rowdy from lunch or getting rowdy because its the end of the school day. I don't mind, I have to just accept that I am kind of the same way. But, hopefully, I give these new students the skills they will need to be successful during their time at our school. I really wish that all school had an appreciation and devotion to their libraries. Most don't even have them...

2009 is here! Happy New Year!

I have been enjoying this winter break a lot more in my 3rd year of teaching. I spent most of it at home in San Diego with my family and have not worried too much about what I will need to do on January 5, when we head back to campus. I have been thinking a lot about privacy and how transparent I need to be to students and colleagues. I am pretty active online but I put my privacy levels to the top most settings because I do not want certain things to be out there. Though, if I learned anything last year, my students will find me anyway.
Are any teachers out there worried about this? I have read a lot of articles about teachers losing jobs or not getting hired because of their online profiles. I am pretty aware of what I put out there but you cannot control what other people put out there. Do you worry about that?
But I also know, I need to be online. I like it. I like my community - it's continually grows. I have learned a lot from the people I meet online. I do have multiple pages on things. One for friends and one for everyone but is that still necessary? I wonder. I constantly have this discussion with friends and colleagues...
But, in order to figure this out, I made a facebook profile. This one is open and anyone can connect with me. But I am still nervous about it. So, there you go. If you have thoughts please share them.